A BOLD attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein will be followed by full-scale war in Iraq "very shortly," said Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.

A BOLD attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein will be followed by full-scale war in Iraq "very shortly," said Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.

Tony Blair was woken after midnight and given two hours' notice of the attack on 10 key targets using around 40 Cruise missiles and involving four warships, two submarines and Stealth bombers.

Mr Hoon said: "This is a preliminary operation, preparing for a more substantial military operation.

"You can expect further operations very shortly."

He later told MPs in the House of Commons that Mr Blair, who was travelling today to a European Council meeting in Brussels, was to broadcast to the nation when Britain's 45,000 servicemen and women become heavily engaged in the Iraq war.

He confirmed that British forces were already engaged in some military operations but refused to give details, though he did give more information on the missile strikes against Baghdad early today.

Target

He told MPs: "These attacks were carried out by coalition aircraft and cruise missiles on more than one target in the vicinity of Baghdad, following information relating to the whereabouts of very senior members of the Iraqi leadership.

"Those leaders are at the very heart of Iraq's command and control system, responsible for directing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction." The Defence Secretary said there had also been preliminary operations against Iraqi artillery, surface-to-surface missiles and air defence systems within the southern no-fly zone.

"These were prudent preparatory steps designed to reduce the threat to coalition forces in Kuwait," he added. "The protection of our servicemen and women will remain a matter of paramount importance."

Earlier, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the mood in this morning's War Cabinet had been "very sombre and serious." He said the Allies had "no option but to use force."

Home Secretary David Blunkett said today that Iraqi sympathisers living in Britain will not be rounded up and detained.

Ineffective

During the last Gulf War in 1991, large numbers of Iraqi citizens were held, but Mr Blunkett said in a statement in the Commons that this action was ineffective.

Mr Blunkett said: "We have no current reason to intern or otherwise detain citizens of Iraq who are resident in this country, but I remain in close touch with the Security Service and the police over this and I will take whatever action is necessary to protect the public, based on constant threat assessments."

Mr Blunkett said he could not guarantee 100 per cent security in the face of a serious terror threat, but insisted the government has prepared for a range of eventualities.

He said the emergency services now had more equipment and trained officers to enable them to respond to a terrorist attack, with 360 mobile decontamination units and with 2,350 police officers specially trained to deal with such an incident.

Nearly é100m has been spent on medical counter-measures, including extra vaccines and antibiotics.